Asonbuy – First Asian marketplace targeting the UK

We’ve long said that in the UK, launching a new marketplace to compete with Amazon and eBay will be a difficult task and the way for new marketplaces to capture market share is to go niche. That’s exactly what Asonbuy aims to do as they target the growing 5,000,000 Asian community here in the UK.

“We are excited to launch the first Asian marketplace for the UK. Asians represent one of the fastest growing communities in the UK and there is a strong demand for Asian products and accessories in the region. Our marketplace aims to fill that gap by extending an easy to access online niche Asian marketplace for buyers. No longer would you need to waste time in searching multiple websites for your desired Asian product as we have brought everything under one roof with Asonbuy. We promise high quality and trendy products from reliable suppliers at great prices for our valued buyers.”
– Neil Chauhan, Asonbuy

Asonbuy had a soft launch on the 26th of July 2018 and it’s still early days. They are currently signing up 3 sellers per day and our aim is to sign up 1,000 sellers in the first 12 months, so we are on track in regards to the increase of the products and sellers.

3 sellers a day joining the marketplace doesn’t sound much, but Asonbuy are offering various advantages for sellers, one of them is listing products for them, where sellers have products ranging from 100 – 1,000. They are focused on making it hyper-easy for merchants to get their products listed.

Since launch Asonbuy have already had sales going through the platform and achieved this by advertising specific products to specific buyers online. They are also finalising their first investment round of £500,000 from a group of private high net worth individuals, this will kick start our operations in the next 4-8 weeks as they expand their team and activities. As the first niche marketplace in this field they are forecasting very fast acceleration after the investment.

It might be early days for Asonbuy, so the decision for merchants who stock products attractive to the Asian community is whether to jump in now or to wait until success is proven. If you want to jump in, then getting established before the competition makes sense but you should expect limited sales in the short term. Waiting gives your competition free rein to maximise on growing their business as Asonbuy ramp up marketing with the disadvantage of being second to market if you decide to launch on the Asian marketplace at a later date.